Game systems that allow a large number of people to play a card game with the help of a computer device are being developed. For example, Patent Publication JP-A-2013-13471 (Patent Document 1: FIG. 1 and so on) discloses a game system configured such that an image of a table game such as baccarat, which is played on a game table used by a dealer, is captured by a motion-picture camera and distributed to a plurality of participant terminals via a network, while game result information and dividend information are managed by a management server.
In the game system described in Patent Document 1, the card game itself is executed by an actual dealer, and therefore labor costs cannot be reduced. Hence, a configuration in which the role of the dealer who handles the cards is played by a computer device may be considered. When the role of the dealer is played by a computer device, an anthropomorphic character who acts as the dealer must be generated and displayed as an image in order to realize operations of the computer device. A method of generating and displaying a stereoscopic image representing a dealer or a method employing a live-action movie obtained by filming a person dressed up as a real-life dealer may be used as an image display method in this case.
In the former method, actions of the dealer can be modified freely in accordance with the progress of the game. However, a calculation load involved in generating the image is high, and since the dealer is a stereoscopic image created by a computer device, an artificial impression may be imparted, causing the players to lose interest. With the latter method, on the other hand, a live-action dealer is displayed, and therefore a favorable visual impression is imparted to the players. As a result, the players are more likely to take the game system seriously.
Patent Publication JP-A-2001-148035 (Patent Document 2: paragraph 0013), for example, discloses a conventional image processing device that can be used as an image processing technique for displaying live-action movie images together with stereoscopic images. In this image processing device, a calculation amount required during image processing for generating a stereoscopic image is reduced by implementing the image processing on a first display body constituted by a movie image and a second display body constituted by a stereoscopic image formed from polygon data after determining a degree of priority thereof by means of hidden surface elimination.